We at Zepol are pleased to announce that we've fully updated the interface for our tools TradeIQ™ and TradeView™. To make these tools better and easier to use, our new interface was developed incorporating our customers' feedback and includes the following features:

• Updated interface look and feel
• Moved [Show Bill of Lading] and [Show List] to directly above results
• Replaced [View By] buttons with tab system directly above results

View the video below for more information on this enhancement and feel free to Contact Us if you have any questions.

I just got back from a week long vacation to Ireland where I saw many of the scenes in Dublin and across the country. It is a beautiful place and lucky for me, it did not rain much, making for a pleasant reprieve from the late summer heat and humidity of the Midwest. Like most tours of Ireland, I saw the Cliffs of Moher and walked through countless ancient churches, but my visit to the Guinness plant will be an enduring highlight.



At Guinness, you learn the normal facts of any beer tour, but a couple stuck out to me:

1. Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease with a yearly rent of 45 pounds. This may be the greatest example of long term planning in history.
2. Guinness brews different versions of its beer for different regions of the world. For example, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is sold in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia, but not the United States and Canada. This strategy is similar to ones taken by many international firms.
3. All the Guinness drunk in the United States is brewed in Dublin.

The third point is the most interesting to me because it is astonishing that all Guinness is imported!

So let’s take a look at the shipments of beer from Ireland with our U.S. import database, TradeIQ.

Important facts:

• Year to date, shipments containing the word ‘Beer’ from Ireland were over 1,800 TEUs and 22,000 Metric Tons.
• Imports of Irish beer in 2010 are expected to grow slightly over 2009, but down from a high in 2008 of over 3,500 TEUs.
• The top 3 U.S. ports in 2010 for Irish beer are New York/Newark, Savannah, and Los Angeles.

Click here to learn more about beer imports and exports to the United States.

Zepol has created a report on U.S. chemical imports from June 2009 - May 2010. The report provides import information for each 10 digit HTS code for all of the related products under HTS code 2918 (carboxylic acids) and sheds light on key consignees, countries, and ports as they relate to U.S. carboxylic acid imports.

3 Key Insights Found in the Report:

1. U.S. lactic acid imports value over June 2009 – May 2010 dropped 37.8% from the previous 12 month period
   
2. With $241,695,049 imported between June 2009 and May 2010, the Port of New York, NY received the most carboxylic acid import shipments for the period
3. China is the top exporter of carboxylic acids, with $105,901,873 exported between June 2009 and May 2010
   

To download the report, please click this link.

Zepol is pleased to provide this information to the public. Please let us know if you have any questions about the contents of our report by filling out our Contact Me form.

The center of any importing program is the Harmonized Tariff Schedule also known as the HTS or HS. This system allows for the U.S. and other national governments to categorize products as they come into their respective countries. Each code has tariff rates assigned to it and some have quotas tied to them for specific countries. The entire HTS System for the United States consists of 22 sections and 99 chapters categorizing all products.

The HTS System is a key concept for importers, compliance professionals, and the companies that support them. Some of the many uses of the Harmonized System include:

• Compliance professionals apply HTS codes for proper import documentation
• Marketers research specific products based on the government’s classification system
• Sourcing professionals learn where their imports fit and how this affects landed costs

When compliance professionals assign HTS codes to products on import documentation, they are taking into consideration multiple factors. Most importantly, they want to ensure accuracy to limit the company’s risk to Customs actions and fines. HTS classification can be very straight forward or extremely complicated. This difference in difficulty is based not only on the make-up and use of the product, but also on how well the HTS defines categories for these products. Many new, innovative products are beyond the scope of the current HTS, but U.S. Customs and the World Customs Organization revise the system regularly to keep up with changing products.

Others use the HTS system for the “clean” product categories that it is derived from. Marketers and suppliers rely on the HTS to understand how different products and materials will change the cost of products from them and their competitors. In the end, no other government classification system has as much impact on an international business' bottom line as the HTS.

Zepol understands the complexity of the HTS System and the need for businesses involved in trade to access timely and accurate HTS information. As a result, we now provide the latest U.S. government statistics by HTS code. Visitors to our site can search for a specific HTS code (i.e. 9503000010) on www.zepol.com or visit our HTS code page to view a list of all HTS codes. Our data will show you how much, in terms of value, was imported into the United States for the last completed month, currently June.

For more information on the HTS and how the government statistics relate to them, please contact us now for special offers to our products.